Senate Averts Shutdown, Sends Government Spending Bill to President Trump

[corbe]

Senate Averts Shutdown, Sends Government Spending Bill to President Trump

by Sean Moran21 Dec 2017
 
The Senate approved a stop-gap funding bill on Thursday, sending the spending bill to President Donald Trump to sign, averting a government shutdown.
The Senate approved the government spending bill 66-32, funding the government until January 19. The House approved the spending bill earlier on Thursday.

Congress approved their legislative business for the new year, with Republicans passing the historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Wednesday.

A coalition of progressive Democrats voted against the spending bill because the government funding legislation did not have amnesty for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal aliens.

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http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/12/21/senate-averts-shutdown-sends-government-spending-bill-to-president-trump/

[corbe]

    Such a pessimist I am, Damn, another thing I was wrong on.
    We can still write checks till Jan 19, when this starts all over, again, hopefully with better results.

[txradioguy]

    Such a pessimist I am, Damn, another thing I was wrong on.
    We can still write checks till Jan 19, when this starts all over, again, hopefully with better results.

I doubt it will get better.  Too easy to kick the can down the road every few weeks and continue the slush fund.  Republicans have surrendered their fiscal responsibility and they don't seem in any big hurry to reclaim it.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Ryan and McConnell are really good at kicking that can, aren't they.

[txradioguy]

Ryan and McConnell are really good at kicking that can, aren't they.

They learned from Reid and Pelosi.  Those two started it...Mitch...Boehner and Ryan have just taken the ball and ran.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

They learned from Reid and Pelosi.  Those two started it...Mitch...Boehner and Ryan have just taken the ball and ran.

I wonder if anyone knows the statistics say during the past 25 years of how much of the time we operated with a real budget vs kicking the can?

[txradioguy]

I wonder if anyone knows the statistics say during the past 25 years of how much of the time we operated with a real budget vs kicking the can?

Just going off of memory...this is the first time in my lifetime that I'm aware of that it's happened.  They've failed to pass a budget many times int he past and the Government gets shut down for a few days until they hammer something out.

But we're going on almost 9 years without a real budget.

The last one that was passed and signed into law was the last one Bush 43 signed that covered Obama's first year in office.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Just going off of memory...this is the first time in my lifetime that I'm aware of that it's happened.  They've failed to pass a budget many times int he past and the Government gets shut down for a few days until they hammer something out.

But we're going on almost 9 years without a real budget.

The last one that was passed and signed into law was the last one Bush 43 signed that covered Obama's first year in office.

Since it is a constitutional requirement to pass a budget, seems our Congress has been negligent for some time.

[Sanguine]

I doubt it will get better.  Too easy to kick the can down the road every few weeks and continue the slush fund.  Republicans have surrendered their fiscal responsibility and they don't seem in any big hurry to reclaim it.

I think we may be beyond the stage where fiscal responsibility is a real possibility.  In order to practice any fiduciary restraint, they would have to alienate the majority of the population and with the obligatory wailing and gnashing of teeth by the democrat/media/sports sector.  I'm not sure they could do anything meaningful if any of them wanted to.  I think they're just going to ride this horse until it keels over from exhaustion.

[txradioguy]

Since it is a constitutional requirement to pass a budget, seems our Congress has been negligent for some time.

And as long as they are more scared of getting bashed in the media as heartless thugs who want to see old women and kids starve...they will continue to shirk their responsibility.

[txradioguy]

I think we may be beyond the stage where fiscal responsibility is a real possibility.  In order to practice any fiduciary restraint, they would have to alienate the majority of the population and with the obligatory wailing and gnashing of teeth by the democrat/media/sports sector.  I'm not sure they could do anything meaningful if any of them wanted to.  I think they're just going to ride this horse until it keels over from exhaustion.

At this point I'd consider it a win just to get a legitimate bill passed and sent to the President's desk.

Spending levels haven't increased in far too long for things like Homeland Security (Border security) and with the ever increasing threats from Russia...China and the Norks...it's almost a moral imperative we expand the defense budget to meet the threats posed to us.

But as long as we keep kicking the can 30...60...90 days down the road we are paralyzed as a Nation from taking care of some things that need to be done.

[Bigun]

Ryan and McConnell are really good at kicking that can, aren't they.

@IsailedawayfromFR @Sanguine

To be entirely fair, the House passed ALL of their appropriations bills before the September deadline this year and they have not yet been touched by the Senate.

[Oceander]

Since it is a constitutional requirement to pass a budget, seems our Congress has been negligent for some time.

Where in the Constitution is a budget required?

[Bigun]

I think we may be beyond the stage where fiscal responsibility is a real possibility.  In order to practice any fiduciary restraint, they would have to alienate the majority of the population and with the obligatory wailing and gnashing of teeth by the democrat/media/sports sector.  I'm not sure they could do anything meaningful if any of them wanted to.  I think they're just going to ride this horse until it keels over from exhaustion.

@Sanguine

Definitely it is for so long as the Senate refuses to change this 60 vote rule for such matters!

[Sanguine]

@Sanguine

Definitely it is for so long as the Senate refuses to change this 60 vote rule for such matters!

Bigun, we'd have to get down to a 10 vote rule before there would be even a chance of passing a responsible budget.  Most of them are just not going to commit political suicide to do the right thing.  Not gonna happen.

[Bigun]

Bigun, we'd have to get down to a 10 vote rule before there would be even a chance of passing a responsible budget.  Most of them are just not going to commit political suicide to do the right thing.  Not gonna happen.

They will not do all that needs doing in one giant swoop to be sure but it CAN be done incrementally just as the mess we have now was put into place.